New faces at Nashawtuc

A number of top PGA Tour players turned 50 over the past year and have already committed to play in the 28th annual Bank of America Championship PGA Champions Tour stop at Nashawtuc Country Club in Concord June 16-22.

Jeff Sluman, John Cook, and Wayne Grady highlight this year's newcomers. Sluman is a six-time winner on the PGA Tour, including a PGA Championship, registered 105 Top 10 finishes, and pocketed more than $18 million. Cook joined the Champions Tour late last season and won the AT&T Championship in his second start. He won 11 times on the PGA Tour with earnings of more than $13 million. Grady is a two-time winner on the PGA Tour, one of them the PGA Championship.

Loren Roberts has also signed on for his first Bank of America Championship. He was eligible in 2006, but rain washed out the tournament that year. In his first season with the over-50 group, Roberts won a major, the JELD-WEN Tradition, and last year started out with six straight Top 10 finishes. He has left his mark on the Champions Tour with 37 Top 10 finishes and more than $4 million earned in two years.

Other new faces already committing to the Bank of America Championship include Fulton Allem, Ronnie Black, Gary Hallberg, Donnie Hammond, Mike Hulbert, David Ogrin, and Clarence Rose. They will join familiar faces like Allen Doyle, Bob Gilder, Jay Haas, Tom Purtzer, Dana Quigley, and Craig Stadler in the 78-man field.

Sophomore winger Kory Falite of Billerica was named Hockey East Player of the Week after scoring 2 goals and 2 assists for the University of Massachusetts at Lowell in weekend games against Boston College and UMass-Amherst. Teammates Ben Holmstrom and Maury Edwards were named to the league's honor roll.

Falite tied a career high with 3 points (a goal and 2 assists) in a 5-4 loss to BC and potted his ninth goal of the season in a 3-1 win over the Minutemen. Falite has played in all 21 games for the 11-6-4 (6-6-4 Hockey East) River Hawks and has 16 points on 9 goals and 7 assists. He has scored either a goal or an assist in three straight games and five of the last six. Holmstrom had 3 assists and won a team-high 29 face-offs in the two games, and Edwards had a power-play goal in each of the games. It was the fifth time this season he has earned honor roll status. The River Hawks had won seven of 10 games heading into this weekend's two-game series against No. 19 Minnesota-Duluth.

Tip of the fedora to Andover senior Megnan Thomann. She scored 21 points - including the 1,000th of her career - in a 68-51 rout of Notre Dame of Hingham. The Bentley-bound guard also had 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 steals. . . . Lowell's boys' and girls' basketball teams are having stellar seasons. After a combined 22 games, the boys were ranked No. 3 at 11-0 and the girls No. 4 at 10-1. . . . Lowell sophomore line mates Rob Daly and Bobby Mitchell continue to score at a torrid pace. Daly pumped in 4 goals and assisted on 2 others, while Mitchell had 5 assists in a 6-2 win over Dracut. The 4-goal effort raised Daly's season's total to 18 in nine games, and the five assists gave Mitchell 22. Both are tops in the MVC/Dual County League. . . . Central Catholic gave undefeated and top-ranked Catholic Memorial all it could handle in a 2-2 tie. Justin Kurek scored the tying goal for Central with 32 seconds left, and goalie Mike Alesse was immense in net with 42 saves. . . . The Greater Lawrence wrestling team just keeps rolling along. The unbeaten Reggies rang up their 20th win of the season and 45th straight dating back to last year in a 59-15 pummeling of Brooks. Freshman Matt Buco remained unbeaten on the season at 103 pounds. . . . Senior Jolena Diefendorf won the vault, bars, floor, and all-around to lift Salem (N.H.) over Pelham and St. Thomas in a tri-meet.

Lexington High product Lew Finnegan is coming off a sensational week for the Bentley men's basketball program, ranked No. 1 nationally in Division 2. The junior guard averaged 22.5 points, 6 rebounds, and 4.5 assists as Bentley improved to 16-0 with wins over Saint Anselm (100-78) and Saint Rose (87-72). He shot 63 percent overall, including an amazing 9 of 11 (.818) from 3-point territory. His 25 points against St. Rose were a season high. Bentley's leading scorer with a 14.5 average, Finnegan was honored as the Northeast-10's co-Player of the Week. . . . Junior linebacker Jay Fielding of Methuen and Central Catholic had an outstanding season for the Westfield State football team. He led all of the NCAA Division 3 in tackles per game with an average of 15.7. All told, he had 141 tackles, including 77 solo, and 3 fumble recoveries. He was the Owls' defensive Player of the Year and named to the Division 3 Northeast All-Region team, that includes New England, New York, New Jersey, and parts of Pennsylvania.

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